Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Unfortunately I have no photo credit for this, but damn this is an interesting shot that someone found today and sent me. SSD at NYC’s A7 Club, with Jimmy Gestapo, Harley Flanagan, Dr. Know, MCA of the Beastie Boys and other NYHC scenesters in the crowd. Crazy to see just how tiny of a space this legendary club actually was. Like glue, like crew…-Tim DCXX

Monday, December 12, 2011

I haven’t come across too many Ignition videos, so when it was brought to my attention that this one popped up, I was pretty stoked to see it. Great video and way underrated band. One of my faves from the Revolution Summer era of harD.C.ore. -Tim DCXX

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Fraud, one of those current bands that I just can’t get enough of. Ever since catching their set in Pomona, CA at the Glass House back in June, I’ve been eagerly awaiting some recordings from these guys. Unfortunately, I’ve heard nothing about recording plans yet, but what I did track down was this live set on YouTube.

Check out the video, check out Fraud on Facebook and hopefully sooner than later we’ll get a release out of these guys. -Tim DCXX

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Been hitting the skateparks on the weekends lately, which has been inspiring me to listen to a heavy dose of The Faction. I’ve mentioned in the past how much I love The Faction’s “Dark Room” 12″ and how that is one of my favorite records ever, but what I haven’t mentioned, is how great their little heard, early 2000’s recordings are.

Although it’s unclear to me exactly when these songs were recorded, The Faction did indeed hit the studio in the early 2000’s and recorded four songs. Two of the songs ended up on compilations, “Cut It Out” and “The Whistler”. The other two songs, “Aisle Seat” and “Who The Hell Do You Think You Are?”, were never officially released. Eventually, “Aisle Seat” showed up on The Faction’s MySpace page, but “Who The Hell Do You Think You Are?” has yet to surface. The only way I even knew “Who The Hell Do You Think You Are?” was recorded, was from talking to Faction guitarist, Ray Stevens, who filled me in. Ray says, “Who The Hell Do You Think You Are?”, was never released. It was a cover song from the band and movie, “Hardcore Logo”, which was a hilarious Canadian rock-umentary”.

The Faction’s “Dark Room” back cover art, done by Lance Mountain

There’s also a couple of tracks that were recorded in 1989, “Looking For You” and “Pet Squirrel”, which apparently appeared in the Santa Cruz Skateboards video, “A Reason For Living”. The cassette for the “A Reason For Living” soundtrack only has “Looking For You”, so I’m not exactly sure where “Pet Squirrel” ended up or if it was ever released at all, but Ray Stevens seemed to think it was in that video.

Early ad for The Faction’s “Yesterday Is Gone” 7″ from the collection of: Sal Bug

So, if anyone out there has “Who The Hell Do You Think You Are?”, “Pet Squirrel” or any other unreleased material by The Faction, get in touch. It’s sort of become one of my missions to gather all of their material. I’ve got a ton of their material already collected, but could always use more, if more is out there.

Skate and destroy… -Tim DCXX

Gavin O’Brien and Steve Caballero with The Faction at the Tool and Die, 1984, Photo: Denice Vaughn

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Rich and Steve from INSTED recently launched a brand new clothing company called, The Underground Faction. Bringing it back to the roots of what they believe with an Animal Liberation, Human Liberation t-shirt as well as other cool designs dedicated to underground music and lifestyle. The company is a collective of sorts and will feature designs from their old hardcore friends, musicians and artists. I’ve been talking with Rich about putting together a couple designs myself, so it’s just a matter of time before I get myself in The Underground Faction mix. Check out what they’ve got going on over at www.theundergroundfaction.com and if you see something you want to pick up, receive a 20% discount by using the special code Doublexxduring checkout. -Tim DCXX

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Matt and Andy tipped me off on their latest project that they’ve been working on and I’ve been looking forward to checking it out. Don’t expect BOLD, Supertouch or anything really all that hardcore, but do expect something new, made by a couple of guys that definitely know how to write some great songs. Obviously they are still very early into what they’re putting together here, but expect good things in the near future. -Tim DCXX

Matt Warnke, Photo: Helenabxl

Check out what Matt had to say…

The Mistaken evolved over the past two years in the workshop environment that is Andy’s Six III Studio. In creating these songs we’ve sought to exist somewhere between heavily-edited meticulousness and loose spontaneity. We will be releasing a ten song full length in the first half of 2012 on Wardance Records. The line-up for live shows is being sorted out at present; expect a few surprises as far as who shows up along with who plays what – Andy will be moving from his customary place behind the drum kit to guitar/backing vocals. Hope to see you all down the line. -Matt Warnke

Sunday, November 6, 2011

In a very odd and almost unexplainable occurrence, I literally found on my basement floor, what just might be the most interesting and rarest version of the Youth Of Today “Can’t Close My Eyes” EP.If you think back to the cover of Schism Fanzine issue 8, with that jaw dropping, all glorious record collection collage photo, you’ll recall that on the inside of the cover, where they listed every record included in the photo, there was a Youth Of Today “Crucial Times” 7″ listed. Now if you were like me, when I noticed that listed record, you did a whole lot of head scratching. After some research, we found out that what was seen on that cover and listed, was basically a hoax, or at least a 7″ that didn’t actually exist.

Schism Fanzine issue 8 cover photo

What the Youth Of Today “Crucial Times” 7″ turned out to be, was an original cover concept drawn by long time Anthrax club flyer artist, Jim Martin in 1985, but was essentially rejected by the band. Basically one of the YOT guys took that original drawing and glued it to the cover of a “Can’t Close My Eyes” EP and threw it into that collage of records that ended up on the cover of Schism 8. I assume one of the Skiz guys thought it would be interesting to list the record, and throw off a ton of people. Well I for one was definitely thrown off.

Now here’s where I start scratching my head again. This past Saturday, I’m down in my basement, where we just had some construction done over the past 3 days. I’m walking around, checking out the work that had been done, when I notice on the floor, below a pile of other stuff that’s been stacked and stored in a basement closet, a 7″ with a black and white, hand drawn cover, lying on the floor. I walk over and pick it up and discover that it’s indeed the infamous Youth Of Today “Crucial Times” 7″.

Take note of the highlighted Youth Of Today – “Crucial Times” 7′ on the cover of Schism 8

At first thought, I’m thinking it’s a xeroxed copy of the original drawing, still not knowing how it ended up in my house and on my basement floor. Upon further inspection, I discover it is the actual, original drawing and 7″ stored in a standard plastic 7″ sleeve. I start thinking and questioning to myself, how I have this and where it came from. But some how or another I’m thinking that the only possible and logical answer is that I must have gotten it from Ray Cappo when buying some records off of him in the late 90’s. Some how I’m guessing it got separated from the rest of the records, stacked in a pile of stuff and stored for the past 15 years. I’m assuming, with all the construction that’s been going on over the past 3 days, the record was shaken loose from a pile and simply fell to the floor. But honestly, I’m still not exactly sure.

What I do know, is that what I have is the original hand drawn artwork by Jim Martin, which has been glued to the cover of an actual “Can’t Close My Eyes” EP cover. Inside that cover is an old black and white Youth Of Today sticker and a Ray Cappo/Becky Tupper prom photo (which really leads me to believe this was Ray’s). There’s also a Batman stamp on the 7″ dust sleeve, a lyric sheet and a black vinyl 7″ inside. Pretty damn cool and quite possibly my oddest hardcore record find ever. -Tim DCXXThe Schism 8 record cover collage listing

Another shot of the “Crucial Times” cover and what was inside

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Time to wrap up what’s been a week’s worth of Misfits/Samhain/Danzig material here at DCXX. It seems that every year, like clockwork, I end up listening exclusively to nothing but Glenn Danzig related bands for a few weeks. Traditionally the October/November/Fall season brings on the inspiration, but it’s by no means kept only to this time period.

What came around in perfect timing this year, was the Danzig Legacy tour. For a fan, Glenn doing sets by all three bands, Danzig, Samhain and Misfits is pretty much sure to be an epic night. I can assure you, this past Saturday, October 29th in NYC at Hammerstein Ballroom was all it was built up to be. The Samhain set being the highlight for me, but the whole show really being incredible on all fronts.

Danzig at Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC, 10/29/2011, Photo: Village Voice

What was also an added bonus was the opening Corrosion Of Conformity 3 piece era lineup (Mike, Woody and Reed) doing a great set of the “Animosity” and “Technocracy” classics, as well as a few new tracks. I’ve been really looking forward to catching this and it did not disappoint.

Here’s a few videos that highlight the Danzig/Samhain/Misfits sets. I realize that the intros may come off a tad boring for those that weren’t there and might just be watching here online, but I can assure you that in person, the combination of the intro music, sounds and dropping of each banner, made for some pretty exciting stuff. I also thought, for what I came across, these videos were the best in terms of quality. -Tim DCXX

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The original Crimson Ghost from the 1946, Fred Brannon film, “The Crimson Ghost”.

Continuing with the seasonal Misfits/Samhain/Danzig theme here at DCXX, I dug up these images that I thought I’d post. I always find it very interesting when I stumble upon original artwork or images that ended up being used as classic band and or album graphics. Some of these you might have come across in the past, some you might have never knew existed, either way, here are a few I that I thought were well worth a post. All Murder, All Guts, All Fun… -Tim DCXX

Cover of the “Die, Die My Darling” single

Cover of the 1950’s horror comic book, “Chamber Of Chills” #19

Cover of “Legacy Of Brutality”

Promotional scene photo from the 1946 film, “The Crimson Ghost”

Cover from the July 1984 8th issue of “Saga of Crystar the Crystal Warrior” comic book

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Monday, October 24, 2011

- We are planning a record release party in the middle of November in Brooklyn, where we’ll also screen New Breed: The Documentary (That’s a ‘lil film I’ve been putting together with my friend John Woods).

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Every once in awhile a certain band that I hadn’t thought about in a long time, will pop back into my head and I’m reminded of just how incredible they were. For what ever reason, today, I started thinking back on two of Eric Ozenne’s former bands, Redemption 87 and The Nerve Agents. I ended up stumbling upon this cool video of The Nerve Agents live at The Troubadour in Hollywood, CA and thought I’d share it here on DCXX. I also found this video below of Redemption 87 from their Gilman Street reunion in 2004. Although the quality isn’t all that great, I still thought the video was worth posting. If you haven’t heard either of these bands, do yourself a favor and dig them up. -Tim DCXX

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Monday, October 17, 2011

This is what we could salvage of the documentary “EDGE DAY 2000: The Last Show Of In My Eyes.” Hope you enjoy it! Here are some words from In My Eyes’ guitarist, Anthony Pappalardo:

For the entire existence of In My Eyes there were always three words used to describe us that made us cringe: Youth Crew Revival. Most ‘zines that were covering Snapcase and Chamberlain would mention we were “great at being a Youth Crew Revival band” and it drove me fucking insane. The Youth Crew was Youth of Today’s crew, not a style of music and certainly not relevant to a band formed in 1997. We all loved Youth of Today but we weren’t setting out to revive anything. That phrase always made me think of a bunch of kids in varsity jackets standing over a drawing of the Step Forwards record dude with wires hooked up to him like Weird Science. Suddenly he rises out of the pages of Boiling Point and He’s Alive… the Youth Crew had been revived! Let’s all pose in the street a la We’re Not In This Alone and bleach our hair!

In My Eyes accomplished infinitely less than many of the bands that were our peers in Boston. From Bane and American Nightmare to Converge, Isis, Jejune and Piebald; we’d toured less, played less and never committed to the band full time but it didn’t mean it wasn’t our lives or that we weren’t happy with what we had left behind. We weren’t able to be a “full time band” and that made things fun. We had an outlet to pour ourselves into every weekend and it made even the smallest show special.

We didn’t revive the Youth Crew, we lived our crew. Some of us listened to Juvenile, while some listened to Stereolab. We could be found wasting our money on sneakers, jackets, unhealthy vegetarian food, gambling or video games. We combed the streets of Boston looking for fun, records and girls… girls were the hardest to come by. In My Eyes was our way of avoiding the September to June College Malaise that defines Boston.

Initially we were a handful of kids crammed into the first floor of a poorly insulated Mission Hill apartment with a Subway table in the vinyl floored kitchen. By the end of the band our friends inhabited about 43% of the neighborhood, formed twenty thousand bands and record labels and we all found time to hang out on each other’s porches and stoops no matter what was going on.

In My Eyes was convinced to play a final show, as the band had run it’s course. We were exhausted, broke, and all facing different directions while still being best friends. Matt Galle, Tim Mailloux and Ray Lemonie aka DHU were responsible for most of the all ages punk and hardcore shows in Boston at the time and they wouldn’t let us go out with a whimper. They booked an all ages, $5.00 show in Haverhill, MA, where Ten Yard Fight had once played as well as 108, about 7 years prior. Haverhill was about ten miles from where I grew up. I spent my teen years there in coffee shops, grinding and sliding the curbs in the town’s parking garage. It was part of the Merrimack Valley, an area responsible for Cave-In, Piebald, Converge, Ten Yard Fight and other notable bands. It was nice to end where I started.

The show wasn’t going to take place in Boston so we could have an all ages show with no barriers, without giving a cent to club owners that hated us the other 364 days of the calendar year.

DHU asked me who I’d wanted on the bill; I remember asking if American Nightmare could play… they didn’t and I’m not sure why but Wes sang the ending of Through The Motions which is part of this documentary. In viewing the video again I realized how much this song aspired to be a Moondog song though it’s mid-paced tempo was modeled after Inside Out.

I’m not sure why my memory is so sharp for some things and so vague for others but I’ll run down the last time In My Eyes played together:

• A few weeks prior we played a last show in Riverside County in California at the Showcase Theater. I liberated a pair of gold Air Max 97s from Niketown as an homage to Civ’s obnoxious creepers at the last GB shows.

• As In My Eyes was fading out, a lot of us noticed the focus on NYHC folk-lore and generally being “hard” in hardcore 2000. We purposely chose to cover A Time We’ll Remember and Bottled Violence, two songs without mosh parts that are as energetic as any songs recorded to keep an emphasis on stage dives and sing-alongs… things we saw as the core of the band.

• Friends from all over the world came, a lot of our friends hadn’t been to a show in years or ever, some of them liked Limp Bizkit and others, House music. It was rad to have such a mix of personalities and backgrounds there in one place.

• The show was $5.00; I’m not sure how many people paid but I know for a fact that no one I knew was asked for even a dollar. Clevo mentions there being 500+ kids there, I’m sure at least 200 were on the “guest list.” I have no idea how many kids were actually there but it felt like at least 501.

• The palm tree background was pretty calming, and later, Jeff and I joked about starting a new band, “Veggie Burger in Paradise”, a Leisure Core band inspired by the backdrop.

• We all knew Sweet Pete was tight with Porcell but didn’t believe he’d really show up to sing Straight Edge Revenge. It kind of blew me away how kids didn’t give him a little room to do his thing, I always thought he was pretty incredible on stage and would have liked to see him have a little more space.

• There was one In My Eyes song we all thought sucked so we didn’t play it but I’m not sure 11 years later what it was, maybe it was Overlooked.

• Dudes ripping down the ceiling cost us $400.00, which is 80 paid customers. I might start a Kickstarter to recoup the costs retroactively.

• There were a lot of humans there not wearing shirts… I’m pretty sure 11 years later they’d keep their “Hanes Beefy Tees” on.

• None of us could even get near our amps to look at our tuners due to the amount of Edgemin on stage, we gave up and tuned by ear. Al Quint once complained that we were always out of tune because we “jumped around so much”, I’m surprised how in-tune we actually sounded.

As for the actual documentary you’re viewing now, it was supposed to be this multi-angle, multi-camera, semi-mega production packed with ephemera, interviews and insight. Instead, it sat somewhere for years until a short sample tape and an invoice arrived in my mail box years later. There was a lot of confusion about what really happened with the movie, I wanted to work with the editor and really make this different but instead the film crew disappeared and we all forgot about this until Larry Ransom found this 30 minute cut.

I wish I didn’t swing my arms around as much when I talked but I’m happy with this slice of In My Eyes and I hope everyone enjoys it.

Thank you to DHU for booking the show, everyone who came out as well as Shark Attack, The Killing Flame, Mouthpiece, Fastbreak, Bane and Ten Yard Fight who played for next to nothing to be a part of the day.

I never went to my senior prom and spent 15 minutes at my college graduation because In My Eyes had a show booked at a shed in a New Jersey backyard with Ensign which I played with a 100+ degree fever but I had this day no matter how bad my memories of it actually is.

Despite this show being an endpoint for In My Eyes, I see many of the people on that stage weekly, monthly and at weddings and other celebrations to this day. We share tweets, texts, emails, Facebook wars and other social media connections and we all agree it was a great time that continues into our (gasp) adult lives.

Thank you.-Anthony Pappalardo 10.17.2011

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Jacob Bannon, frontman for Converge and one of the two kingpins at Deathwish Records, contacted me a couple weeks ago and asked if I’d be down to post something on DCXX regarding some Ressurection merch that they had just recently put up in their online store. I of course obliged, but wanted to make the entry a little something more than just an advertisement for merch. I started thinking back to a few years ago, when the idea for the Ressurection discography first came together and Rob reached out to me for a written contribution to possibly be included in the discography. Years later the discog finally came out (this past August), but no written contributions were included, so when thinking about putting together this entry for the new Ressurection shirts, I remembered that I still had this unused piece I had written on Ressurection.

If you haven’t gotten a chance to pick up the discography, titled, “I Am Not: The Discography”, do yourself a favor and definitely grab it. The re-mixing/re-mastering of those songs drastically helped the sound of what I always knew were great songs, but suffered from lack luster recordings. As you can see, Deathwish also did a great job of bringing back some classic Ressurection shirt designs, many of which used the original films that Geoff at TDT screen printing had archived from their first runs.

So here it, my thoughts on Ressurection, originally intended to be included in the discography. -Tim DCXX

Growing up and going to hardcore shows in the mid to late 80’s was pretty special. There were so many great bands with so many inspiring things to say and it all completely took me by storm. As the early 90’s moved in, many of the bands that I loved started falling apart, changing their sound, along with their ideals, show attendance began to see a significant drop. These early days of the 1990’s really showed you who was in for the long haul and who was simply a casual show goer.

I had met Rob while he was doing Release and they were easily one of my favorite New Jersey bands from the late 80’s. Rob was never afraid to speak his mind and straight edge was a flag that he was never shy about waving. Because of Rob’s relentlessness and non-compromising attitude, I respected him a lot.

Not long after the demise of Release, Rob started talking about putting together a new band. I remember he had the name Ressurection in mind and there was never any doubt what that name represented. Given the circumstances of the hardcore scene at that time, old ideas rising again seemed too good to be true. Not long after I also clearly remember Rob playing me their first recorded track, “Melting Away”. At first listen, it reminded me of a noisy, straight edge version of BL’AST! and I loved it. It was really nothing at all like anything else that was happening in the scene at that time. I loved everything about that song, the lyrics, the music, the almost eerie sound of the recording, it all just seemed to come together perfectly.

As this was all happening, I was doing a band called Mouthpiece and we had a show coming up with California’s Insted at a club in Reading PA, called the Unisound. We had told Rob that Ressurection should come to this show and after our set, they should hop up on stage, use our equipment and play “Melting Away”. With little hesitation, Ressurection took us up on our offer and introduced themselves that night. Rob picked up the mic and said, “We’re Ressurection, a straight edge band from new Jersey and if you don’t like it, there’s the door… this songs called Melting Away”. From the start of the guitar feedback, the few of us that knew the song went absolutely insane as did the band on stage. I knew from that point on, we were entering a new era. There was no need to cry about what was gone and missing from the scene, because what we had building in front of us was something just as special and inspiring as what graced us through the 80’s.